First Coroner Report
In the original report the state’s medical examiner Joan Wood stated that the autopsy showed McPherson had deteriorated slowly, going without fluids for five to 10 days, was underweight, had several bruises and bedsores. They also showed she had been unconscious for up to 48 hours before her death and had dark brown lesions consistent with "insect/animal bites" in the right lower arm just above the wrist. Wood said that McPherson had probably been bitten by cockroaches. Joan Wood concluded that Lisa McPherson died of a pulmonary embolism caused by bed rest and severe dehydration. Scientology responded by stating that Wood was lying and responded by suing Wood for defamation.
Independent Opinion
The St. Petersburg Times contacted five medical experts for their opinion about the report, and they confirmed it. The Church of Scientology responded by stating that all five doctors should have been given the entire autopsy report, not the vitreous fluid tests-- which pathologists use to examine the composition of blood at the time before death-- alone.
Scientology hires experts
Scientology hired its own team of experts to oppose Wood’s findings, including the help of two nationally known pathologists: Michael Baden (a former chief medical examiner in New York City that has played roles in some of the country's most celebrated death cases including the autopsy of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., actor John Belushi and former baseball manager Billy Martin; the re-autopsy of civil rights leader Medgar Evers and led the 1979 congressional re-examination of evidence in the assassination of President Kennedy) and Drs. Cyril H. Wecht (a lawyer and the county coroner in Pittsburgh, who worked on the 1979 Kennedy assassination commission and is a frequent commentator on major death cases.). Drs. Baden and Wecht concluded that McPherson, 36, died suddenly and unpredictably of a blood clot in her left lung that originated from a knee bruise she suffered in a minor auto accident 17 days earlier.[28]
This scientific evidence was then sent to Joan Wood for review. [29] The Scientific evidence sent to Woods included:
- Literature that shows that dehydration does not cause blood clots.
- Research on a substance known as ketone, which people produce when they are dehydrated, starving or even fasting, tests of McPherson's bodily fluids showed no ketone.
- Findings from a body measurement expert hired by the church. The expert compared autopsy photos of McPherson with those taken in happier times, just before she became psychotic and entered the Fort Harrison. The expert concluded there was "no appreciable weight loss," which counters the prosecution's view that McPherson lost 20 to 40 pounds while in Scientology's care.
- A report by a Morton Plant Hospital doctor who saw McPherson just before she entered Scientology's Fort Harrison Hotel, McPherson already was thin with protruding cheek bones.
- A report by Robert D. Davis, the pathologist who conducted the autopsy for Wood's office, concluded McPherson's body was of average nutritional status.
- Medical literature and sworn testimony that it says proves the eye fluid samples were improperly handled by Wood's office, incompetently tested at an independent lab and ultimately contaminated.
Also was notable that Wood did not do McPherson's autopsy personally but assigned it to Robert Davis, an employee who later was asked to resign and was a witness for the defendant (church). He disputed Wood's conclusions and testified that she did not speak to him about her findings before signing his autopsy after he had resigned.[5]
The plaintiff's response was that that the chain of custody of evidence was not broken (also corroborated by Crow's memo)
“They simply argue that the McPherson postmortem test results of fluid,...cannot be relied upon...They apparently ignore the testimony of Robert Davis, M.D., Joan Wood, M.D., David Minkoff, M.D., Janice Johnson, M.D., attendant staffer Rita Boykin, attendant staffer Heather Hof Petzold, the ER personnel, and the two autopsy technicians, Stodgell and Daerr. ”
Due to the vitreous fluid tests, they maintained that she was dehydrated. Chemical pathologists Calvin Bandt and Spitz concurred with the initial coroner's report in their affidavits. Referring to Dr. Minkoff's affirmative testimony of McPherson described with "hollowed-out eyes...thin skin...and did she look dehydrated, yes", plaintiff said even still the abovementioned Scientology experts "opine Lisa McPherson was not dehydrated in appearance and therefore it is error to look at the post mortem chemistries." Plaintiff witness Dr Alan Wu also testified that ketones need not be present for dehydration in a special case like McPherson where she was fed proteins and therefore didn't create measurable ketones. The plaintiffs maintained that Lisa did lose water weight to result in 108 lbs with respect to the vitreous fluid.
Second Coroner Report
After the review Wood changed the cause of death from "undetermined" to an "accident". Wood traced McPherson's pulmonary embolism to her psychosis and a minor auto accident as major factors. This garnered controversy as described in Assistant State Attorney Douglas Crow's memo in which he recommends dropping the criminal case.
They and the plaintiffs stated,
“Even after changing her opinion, Dr. Wood states she is ambivalent as to whether Lisa's death is medical neglect or homicide. (Appendix "2", p35 of June 1,2000 sworn interview to the state attorney)."
and that Woods
“ initially changed [the death certificate] to read the death was an "accident" not caused by dehydration, Crow said. She then reconsidered, he said, deciding to re-insert dehydration as a cause of death and list the death as a homicide. The next morning, she changed her mind once again and finalized the changes.”
Crow's memo and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement alleged she had been under constant surveillance of private investigators and that "several factors may have impacted the quality of her judgment...citing Wood's vulnerability to litigation in the case and a suggestion by Scientology that it could reveal information extremely damaging to Wood's office and her career." Wood also resigned that year due to prosecutors and defence attorneys attacking her credibility based on this report and the handling of the case.
